Ex-SEC Lawyer Pleads in Dreier Case, Got $100K to Play Role re $44M in Fake Notes

A lawyer who formerly worked in the enforcement division of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission has pleaded guilty to helping attorney Marc Dreier try to sell $44.7 million of fake notes to sophisticated investors.

Robert Miller, 52, said Dreier paid him $100,000 to impersonate individuals at a Canadian pension plan and an Icelandic hedge fund in order to make the transactions concerning the fictitious notes seem legitimate, according to the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.).

He pleaded guilty today in Manhattan federal court to securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud, and could get as much as 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in February.

Dreier, the former managing partner of the Dreier law firm in New York, was sentenced in July to a 20-year federal prison term for after pleading guilty to securities fraud, conspiracy and other charges. Federal authorities alleged that he sold some $700 million in fake notes to hedge funds and other sophisticated investors, as detailed in earlier ABAJournal.com posts.

A third individual, onetime registered securities broker Kosta Kovachev, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud in the case earlier this month.